Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Ohio Campaign Finance Reform

The first of two editorials focuses in on the evil Republicans quest for total domination of the Buckeye State through shady deals and financial shenanigans. It is the same old story. The DDN Editorial Board wouldn't run this story at all if it were Democrats at the center of the storm. This is the sort of rhetoric you get when a Republican is on the hot seat:

Sen. Jacobson and the politicians who ultimately join him shouldn’t get too much credit for ensuring that elections are paid for cleanly and with complete disclosure. They should expect at least that much of themselves because fair elections are central to the idea of democracy.

If they do nothing else in office, lawmakers should do no harm. Some of them have been trampling on the democratic ideals of honesty and openness with their manipulative and self-interested dealings. Voters shouldn’t have to rise up to make them stop.

I've said it elsewhere, but will repeat it here: the Republicans are supposed to be the good guys. We're supposed to be the party with ethics and values. When our own engages in this sort of tomfoolery, it should be denounced by the Party.

The second deals with Republican state Senator Jeff Jacobson's attempt to clean up his own mess and close the loophole that allowed himself and others to engage in said shady deals and financial shenanigans.

Think of Jacobson as Ohio's own little John McCain and the goal is to create the sort of fiasco that we have at the federal level known as campaign finance reform. People should have the right to contribute however much they want to a campaign and they shouldn't be dragged in to the political fight that occurs when one side wins over the other. Do we really need 527s at the local level? Do we need MoveOnDayton.org? I don't think so...